Protesters used rocks to smash armored windows and set fire to the walls of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on December 31 in anger over recent U.S. air strikes in Iraq and Syria. Security forces fired stun grenades and tear gas to try to disperse thousands of people gathered at the compound. The December 29 air strikes that prompted the violent protest targeted the Iran-backed Kataib Hizballah militia.

Thousands of protesters surrounded the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on December 31 in a protest over recent U.S. air strikes that killed at least 25 members of an Iran-backed militant group, Kataib Hizballah, in Iran and Syria. Embassy staff and the U.S. ambassador were evacuated as protesters broke down a door and burned American flags. Video shot elsewhere in Baghdad shows thousands of protesters marching to join the crowds at the embassy.